Investigations

On October 1, 2018, Zachary Symm, a former aircraft parts broker for the Government/Military Marketing Department of Flight Director, Inc., Austin, Texas, was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Austin, Texas, to 3 years’ probation, which includes 6 months’ home confinement with electronic monitoring, a $5,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment fee. Symm pleaded guilty to wire fraud in May 2018.

 

Symm knowingly sold and shipped substituted aircraft parts to foreign military customers under two U.S. Air Force contracts, and supplied fraudulent forms and documents for those shipments. The substituted parts included critical safety items and flight safety critical aircraft parts for jet engines. The Department of Defense (DoD) issued two Notifications of Suspected Defective Products related to these parts.

 

This matter was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, San Antonio, Texas. DOT-OIG conducted the investigation with DoD’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service, with assistance from FAA’s Special Emphasis Investigative Team.